It was passed by 189 votes to 47 and has managed to keep the majority of its original clauses intact.

The controversial Bill seeks to curb online piracy, among several other major policies, all with the aim of stimulating the UK’s digital economy. It has caused ripples across the technology world, most notably because of its proposals regarding thesuspension of repeat filesharers’ internet connections and also themeasures (formerly contained within clause 18) that would allow politicians to block pirate websites without primary legislation.

The Government had removed this proposed clause during the Bill’s Parliamentary readings, but then replaced it with a different amendment which will indeed allow the Secretary of State for Business to block any site which “the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright".

Clause 43 was withdrawn which proposed extending the licensing of orphaned copyrighted works and the Government has abandoned plans to introduce a 50-pence-a-month tax on telephone land linesto help part-fund the build out of a next-generation high-speed broadband network. This clause was dropped from the separate Finance Bill.

The Digital Economy Bill has been processed speedily as it is being pushed through in the politics wash-up process - which takes place between an election being called and Parliament being dissolved.

MPs were criticised earlier in the week for being very few in number while the Bill was being debated during its second reading. The opposition to the Bill has been strong, with over 20,000 voterswriting to their MPs in the last seven days to lobby against the Bill being rushed through in its current format.

The Bill received last minute support from the Conservative Party and despite opposition from the Liberal Democrats and certain Labour MPs, the Government managed with relative ease to get Bill vote through its third reading.

As the Bill originated with the House of Lords, it will now go back to the Lords for final approval – which it is expected to get through as this procedure is a largely viewed as a formality. After this stage the Bill will have completed all of its parliamentary processes and is expected to receive Royal Assent before passing into law.